, where
a few seconds sufficed for the completion of the business. Leaving, I
sought to catch the eye of my melancholy friend, but he appeared too
sunk in dejection to notice anything. The restless-eyed comedian,
looking at the author of the English version and addressing me as
Boanerges, wished me good morning, at which the everybody laughed; and,
informed as to the way out by the pale-faced Mr. Catchpole, I left.

The first "call" was for the following Monday at two o'clock. I found
the theatre full of life and bustle. The principals, who had just
finished their own rehearsal, were talking together in a group. We
ladies and gentlemen of the chorus filled the centre of the stage. I
noticed the lady I had heard referred to as Gertie; as also the thin
lady with the golden hair. The massive gentleman and the fishy-eyed
young man were again in close proximity; so long as I knew them they
always were together, possessed, apparently, of a sympathetic antipathy
for each other. The fishy-eyed young gentleman was explaining the age at
which he thought decayed chorus singers ought, in justice to themselves
and the public, to retire from the profession; the massive gentleman,
the age and size at which he thought parcels of boys ought to be
learning manners across their mother's knee.

Mr. Hodgson, still reading letters exactly as I had left him four days
ago, stood close to the footlights. My friend, the musical director,
armed with a violin and supported by about a dozen other musicians,
occupied the orchestra. The adapter and the stage manager--a Frenchman
whom I found it good policy to mistake for a born Englishman--sat
deep in confabulation at a small table underneath a temporary gas jet.
Quarter of an hour or so passed by, and then the stage manager, becoming
suddenly in a hurry, rang a small bell furiously.

"Clear, please; all clear," shouted a small boy, with important air
suggestive of a fox terrier; and, following the others, I retreated to
the wings.

The comedian and the leading lady--whom I knew well from the front,
but whom I should never have recognised--severed themselves from their
companions and joined Mr. Hodgson by the footlights. As a preliminary we
were sorted out, according to our sizes, into loving couples.

"Ah," said the stage manager, casting an admiring gaze upon the
fishy-eyed young man, whose height might have been a little over five
feet two, "I have the very girl for you--a beauty!" Darting in